1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates broadly to apparatus by which a smoker may inhale the products of combustion of combustible substances such as tobacco and medicinal herbs, and more particluarly to apparatus by which the smoke is drawn through water or other liquid before being inhaled. With still more particularity, the present invention relates to the foregoing apparatus which has provisions for utilization of atmospheric air to complement and aid the smoking process.
2. Prior Art
The use of water in smoking apparatus is ancient, dating back at least several hundred years. Illustrative examples of early smoking water pipes are the Persian hookahs or narghiles, wherein smoke from the substance being combusted is directed through a tube discharging below the surface of water in a potlike container before passing therefrom through a second tube to the mouth of the smoker. Such apparatus undoubtedly did provide the function of cooling and cleansing the smoke of ash, tars and other contaminants. More recently, various modern versions of the ancient water pipes have been manufactured, sold and used. These versions have not differed in basic respect from the original hookah, comprising principally a potlike container for holding the water, a bowl for the smoking substance communicating by a hollow tube to a point beneath the water, and an outlet tube from a smoke chamber formed above the surface of the water to the mouth of the smoker. These modern versions of the hookah have been produced in forms not adaptable to being carried by the smoker, as well as in more compact, smaller portable versions. They have not incorporated provisions for the use of atmospheric air to control the smoke. More recently, probably under the influence of the oriental smoking water pipe called a bong, using the hollow stem of the bamboo tree as a combined water and smoke chamber, modern versions of a water pipe have been produced of a general cylindrical tubular construction. In these versions, tubes of plastic and other modern materials have replaced the aforesaid hollow bamboo stem. The oriental bong, further, provides means for using atmospheric air to dilute the smoke before inhalation, as well as provided oxygen for the combustion producing the smoke. Thus, an air admitting orifice has been provided venting the smoke chamber formed in the bamboo stem above the water in the bottom of the stem. The orifice is finger controllable, so that air may at the desire of the smoker be either excluded or admitted directly to the smoke chamber so as to dilute the smoke therein. U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,875 provides a vented potlike vessel to contain water and provide a smoke chamber above the water, the smoke chamber being provided with finger controllable vents for the use of the smoker in diluting the smoke. U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,499 represents a cylindrically constructed water pipe or bong, having sedimentation chambers housed in the lower part of a tube which also forms a water and smoke chamber thereabove. However, no provision is made for the utilization of atmospheric air to dilute or control the smoke in ways other than combusting and transporting the smoke in and from a smoking bowl. The smoke is cleansed of ash and other contaminants by the sedimentation chambers, but must be inhaled in the character and strength with which it is formed by combustion in the bowl. Thus, all current art of water pipes provide inadequate control over the nature, concentration and mode of delivery of the smoke to the mouth of the smoker, failing to provide for the use of atmospheric air selectively to dilute and positively displace the smoke, nor to sooth and cool the throat and bronchial passages of the smoker after the smoke is inhaled.